THE 


Royal  Law  of  Love; 


LOVE  IN  RELATION   TO   LAW 
AND    TO   GOD. 

STi^e  Baccalaureate  Sermon 

Preached  before  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 
June  27,  1875. 

By  JAMES  \lcCOSH,  D.D.,  LL.D., 


ri.'K'^iDrNr  <>i--    in 


■>\^\o^ 


N  E  \\     Y  O  ]<  K  : 
ROBERT  CARTER  AND  BROTHERS. 


i liiU  .s.wn. 
l^iiiL    :r>L()i  libn    Philosoi^iv  : 

Biographical,  Expository,  Critical.     T.y  Jami:s  McCosh,  D.D., 

LL.I).     Svo.     $4.00. 

"  I'icsidcnt  McCosh's  elaborate  work  upon  the  'Scottish  Philos- 
ophy '  cannot  fail  to  be  warmly  welcomed  by  every  student  of 
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and  Princeton  Revie^o. 


Ideas    in    Nature,    Overlooked   by 
Dr.  Tyndall  ; 

Being  an  Examination  of  Dr.  TyndalPs  Belfast  Addrcs.s.  By 
jA.Mr.s  McCosH,  D.D.,  LL.D.  r^mo.  Paper,  25  cents; 
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to  raise  the  cry  of  '  i)ersccution.'  "  —  Church  Union, 


The    Royal    Law    oi-    Love; 

Or,  Love  in  Relation  to   Law  and  to  (".imI.     I'.y  Dr.  iMt  COsii, 
Paper.     25  cents. 

EGBERT  GARTER  AND  BROTHERS,  Now  York. 


THE 


Royal  Law  of   Love; 


OR, 


LOJ^E  IN  RELATION   TO   LAW 
AND    TO    GOD, 

CTIjc  Baccalaureate  Sermon 

Treached  before  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 
June  27,  1875. 


By  JAMES    McCOSH,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

PRESIDENT   OF   THE   COLLEGE. 


jJOic 


NEW    YORK: 
ROBERT    CARTER    AND    BROTHERS. 

1S75. 


Copyright, 

By  Robert  Carter  &  Brothers. 

1S75. 


Cambridge  : 
Press  of  John  Wilson  ^  Son. 


THE    ROYAL   LAW   OF   LOVE. 


"  Lm'e  is  the  fulfill  in ^  of  the  laufT  —  Rom.  xiii.  lo. 
''*'  If  ye  fulfil  the  royal  law  aecorditii^  to  the  Script  it  re  ^  Thou  shall  loz>e 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself,  ye  do  well^  —  James  ii.  8. 

TN  these  passages  there  is  a  reference  to  three  things, 
—  to  Love,  to  Law,  and  a  King.  I  see  before  me 
an  arch  set  up  on  earth,  and  spanning  the  heavens  ; 
the  one  side  is  Law,  the  other  side  is  Love,  and 
the  key-stone  binding  and  crowning  the  whole  is  God. 
Our  theme  is  the  Royal  Law  of  Love.  Let  us  con- 
template Love  and  Law  first  separately,  and  then  in 
their  combination  in  God. 

I.  Love. 

It  may  manifest  itself  in  two  forms,  which  should 
be  carefully  distinguished. 

T/ic  Love  of  Complacency.  We  delight  in  the  object 
or  person  beloved.  It  is  thus  that  the  mother  clasps 
her  infant  to  her  bosom  ;  thus  that  the  sister  interests 
herself  in  every  movement  of  her  little  brother,  and  is 
proud  of  his  feats  ;  thus  that  the  father,  saying  little 
but  feeling  much,  follows  the  bright  career  of  his  son 
in  the  competitions  of  the  college,  and  the  still  more 
trying  rivalries  of  the  world  ;  thus  that  the  student 


4  THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE. 

seeks  the  society  of  his  classmates,  is  grieved  when 
he  has  to  separate  from  them,  and  casts  a  fond  look 
towards  their  coming  career  ;  thus  that  throughout 
our  lives  our  hearts,  if  we  have  hearts,  cling  round 
the  tried  friends  of  our  youth  ;  thus  that  the  wife 
would  leave  this  world  with  her  last  look  on  her 
husband  ;  thus  that  the  father  would  depart  with  his 
sons  and  his  daughters  around  his  couch.  There  is  a 
"last  look  which  love  remembers,"  that  given,  for 
instance,  when  the  ship  moves  away  with  the  dear 
friend  in  it,  or  when  the  soul  leaves  the  earth  to  wing 
its  way  to  heaven.  Love  looks  out  for  the  persons 
beloved.  The  mother  soon  discovers  her  son  in  that 
crowd  ;  the  blacksmith 

"  Hears  his  daughter's  voice 
Singing  in  the  village  choir." 

The  believer  will  steal  away  in  fancy  from  the  busy 
scenes  of  life  to  meet  with  his  Saviour  ;  and  I  am  per- 
suaded that  when  he  reaches  heaven  he  will  recognize, 
without  requiring  to  be  told,  the  One  whom  he  has 
so  loved. 

In  a  higher  sphere  and  in  an  older  age,  even  from 
the  beginning,  the  love  of  God,  of  God  who  is  love, 
was  exercised  in  the  fellowship  of  P'ather,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost ;  for  the  eternal  Logos  says,  "  I  was 
daily  his  delight,  rejoicing  always  before  him,"  and 
**my  delights  were  with  the  sons  of  men  "  (Prov.  viii. 
30,  31).  It  has  always  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  very 
beautiful  expression  of  that  love  that  is  given  by  the 
prophet  Zephaniah  (iii.  17),  "He  will  rejoice  over  thee 


THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE.  5 

with  joy  ;  he  will  rest  in  his  love,  he  will  joy  over 
thee  with  singing."  *'  Likewise  I  say  unto  you  there 
is  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God  over  one 
sinner  that  rcpenteth."  There  were  music  and  danc- 
ing in  the  house  of  the  father  when  the  prodigal  re- 
turned. Hut  Zcphaniah,  by  a  bolder  representation 
than  could  have  been  employed  by  any  but  a  Hebrew 
prophet,  speaks  of  our  Heavenly  Father  as  so  rejoicing 
over  the  return  of  sinners,  —  "I  will  joy  over  you  with 
singing." 

TJic  Love  of  BcnrLwIcncc.  This  is  a  higher  form  of 
love.  In  this  we  not  only  delight  in  the  contempla- 
tion and  society  of  the  persons  beloved  :  we  wish  well 
to  them,  we  wish  them  all  that  is  good.  "  Therefore 
all  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to 
you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them  :  for  this  is  the  law  and  the 
prophets."  We  will  oblige  them  if  we  can  ;  we  will 
serve  them  if  in  our  power  ;  we  will  watch  for  oppor- 
tunities of  promoting  their  welfare  ;  we  will  make  sac- 
rifices for  their  good.  This  love  is  ready  to  flow  forth 
towards  relatives  and  friends,  towards  neighbors  and 
companions,  towards  all  with  whom  we  come  in  con- 
tact:  it  will  go  out  towards  the  whole  family  of  man- 
kind. We  are  ready  to  increase  their  happiness,  and 
in  the  highest  exercises  of  love  to  raise  them  in  the 
scale  of  being,  and  to  exalt  them  morally  and  spiritu- 
ally. 

The  love  of  God  thus  manifests  itself  in  multiply- 
ing hap[)iness,  in  spreading  holiness.  He  is  not  only 
Light,  but  the  Fountain  of  lights  ;  and  the  light  that 
is  in  him,  like  that  of  the  sun,  shines  on  all  around. 


6  THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE. 

God  is  known  by  his  works.  He  made  us  and  not 
we  ourselves.  He  provides  for  our  wants  ;  he  cares 
for  us,  and  is  ready  to  guide  and  to  comfort  us. 
Higher  than  all,  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he 
gave  his  only  begotten  son,  that  whosoever  believeth 
in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 
Abraham  saw  all  this  in  the  mount  which  he  called 
Jehovah-jireh,as  it  is  said  to  this  day,  "  In  the  mount 
of  the  Lord  it  shall  be  seen."  He  had  been  com- 
manded to  offer  his  son  in  sacrifice  ;  he  had  travelled 
with  him  three  whole  days,  exposed  to  such  questions  : 
"  Behold  the  fire  and  the  wood,  but  where  is  the  lamb 
for  a  burnt-offering  } "  He  had  bound  him  on  the 
altar,  and  taken  up  the  knife  to  slay  him  ;  but  now, 
to  his  inexpressible  relief,  he  heard  the  voice,  "  Now  I 
know  that  thou  fearest  God,  seeing  thou  hast  not 
withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son,  from  me.  And  Abra- 
ham lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  looked,  and  behold,  behind 
him  a  ram  caught  in  a  thicket  by  his  horns  :  and 
Abraham  went  and  took  the  ram,  and  offered  him  up 
for  a  burnt-offering  in  the  stead  of  his  son."  Abra- 
ham must  then  have  comprehended,  and  we,  by  pay- 
ing a  visit  to  that  Mount  of  the  Lord,  can  conceive, 
how  great  the  love  of  God,  who  spared  Isaac,  but 
spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  gave  him  freely  to 
the  death  in  our  room  and  stead.  "  Herein  indeed 
is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  he  loved 
us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our 
sins." 

This  second  is  the  higher  aspect  of  love.  The 
other  belongs  in   man  to  a  lower  department  of  his 


TIIFC  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE.  / 

nature.  It  is  an  exercise  merely  of  emotional  attach- 
ment, and  may  contain  nothin<;  virtuous  or  holy  :  it 
may  be  x\-\Q.xQ\y^  like  the  attachment  of  a  clog  to  its 
master.  The  love  of  benevolence  is  of  a  hij^her  sort: 
we  wish  to  do  good  ;  we  strive  to  do  good  to  those 
whom  we  love.  The  one  is  like  a  genial  heat  in  a 
closed  apartment  ;  the  other  is  like  a  fire  radiating 
on  all  around.  The  one  is  a  lake,  reflecting  heaven 
on  its  bosom  ;  the  other  is  a  fountain,  welling  up  and 
carr\'ing  with  it  a  refreshing  influence.  "  If  a  brother 
or  sister  be  naked,  and  destitute  of  daily  food,  and  one 
of  you  say  unto  them,  Depart  in  peace,  be  ye  warmed  ; 
notwithstanding  ye  give  them  not  those  things  which 
are  needful  to  the  body  ;  what  doth  it  profit }  "  It  is 
this  love  of  benevolence  that  is  "  the  fulfilling  of  the 
law."  It  flows  out  in  a  great  number  and  variety  of 
forms  :  in  compassion,  in  pity,  in  tenderness,  in  long- 
suffering,  in  patience.  The  high  priest  in  old  time 
wore  a  breastplate  with  twelve  precious  stones  ;  but 
every  true  Christian  is  a  priest,  and  carries  on  his 
breast  a  more  ornamental  tablet,  thus  described  : 
''  Charity  suffereth  long  and  is  kind  ;  charity  envieth 
not  ;  charity  vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up,  doth 
not  behave  itself  unseemly,  seeketh  not  her  own,  is 
not  easily  provoked,  thinketh  no  evil  ;  rcjoiceth  not  in 
iniquity,  but  rcjoiceth  in  the  truth  ;  bcareth  all  things, 
believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all 
things."  Christians  in  this  world  of  sin,  sorrow,  and 
suffering  have  a  means  of  showing  love,  such  as  is  not 
available  to  angels  in  the  spotless  mansions  of  heaven  : 
they  can  and  should,  like  their  great  Master,  *'  bear 


8  THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE. 

the  contradiction  of  sinners,"  and  should  have  com- 
passion on  the  ignorant  and  on  those  who  are  gone 
out  of  the  way." 

But  it  may  be  asked,  How  can  this  benevolence  be 
exhibited  by  us  towards  God,  who  is  independent  of 
us,  and  needs  not  our  aid  ?  The  answer  is,  We 
identify  ourselves  with  him,  and  strive  to  promote  his 
glory,  and  the  causes  in  which  he  is  interested.  We 
make  it  our  prayer,  "  Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be 
done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  True  we  have  to 
say  (Ps.  xvi.  2,  3),  "  my  goodness  extendeth  not  to 
thee  ;  "  but  we  should  add,  "  but  to  the  saints  that  are 
in  the  earth,  and  to  the  excellent,  in  whom  is  all  my 
delight,"  and  in  loving  whom  we  feel  that  we  are  loving 
God. 

These  two  forms  of  love,  while  they  may  be  distin- 
guished, should  never  be  separated.  But  in  fact  they 
have  often  been  divorced  the  one  from  the  other. 
How  often  do  men  show  the  love  of  complacency, 
without  the  love  of  benevolence  !  They  delight  in 
the  society  of,  and  they  receive  gratification  from,  per- 
sons whom  they  do  not  seek  to  benefit.  They  do 
worse  :  they  injure  those  to  whom  they  are  attached, 
as  the  ivy  is  apt  to  destroy  the  tree  which  it  embraces 
and  adorns.  They  do  so  by  indulging,  by  flattering, 
by  tempting  them.  The  doting  mother  spoils  the  child 
whom  she  so  fondles.  The  seducer  ruins  the  unhappy 
one  whom  he  clasps  in  his  foul  embrace.  There  is  a 
love  that  is  not  lovely.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  refined  form  of 
selfishness.  For  our  gratification  and  pleasure  we  lay 
hold  of  and  hug  to  our  bosoms  objects  which  we  only 


THE  ROYAL    LAW  OF  LOVE.  9 

corrupt.  I  apprehend  that  much  of  human  sinfuhiess 
consists  in  tcarinc^  asunder  what  should  be  kept  united, 
in  selfishly  deli^t^hting  in  persons,  and  turning;  them  to 
our  uses  only  to  tempt  and  destroy  ihem.  It  has 
often  been  remarked  that  the  worst  thin[;s  are  the 
perversion  of  good  things.  Abused  intellectual  gifts 
make  the  dangerous  villain.  Abused  sensibilities 
make  the  accomplished  tempter.  Abused  affections 
gender  the  keenest  of  all  misery. 

How  terrible  the  chasms  produced  by  sin  in  our 
world  !  That  virtuous  mother  looks  with  unutterable 
horror  upon  the  conduct  of  her  drunken  son  ;  yet  she 
would  die  for  him  at  any  moment,  provided  she  could 
thereby  save  him.  Nay,  has  not  sin  by  its  dissevering 
and  destructive  power  kept  asunder  in  a  sense  what  had 
ever  before  been  united  in  the  mind  of  God }  It  has 
been  disputed  among  theologians  whether  God  can 
love  or  be  a  father  to  sinners  yet  in  their  sins.  The 
distinction  I  have  drawn  solves  the  question.  I  can- 
not very  well  see  how  God  should  look  on  the  sinner 
with  complacency.  "  God  is  angry  with  the  wicked 
every  day"  (Ps.  vii.  11).  '*  I  hate  them  with  perfect 
hatred"  (Ps.  cxx.xi.w  22).  But,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
loves  the  sinner  ;  loves  him  with  an  everlasting  love  ; 
he  loves  him  with  the  love  of  compassion.  "  How 
shall  I  give  thee  up,  Ephraim  ?  how  shall  I  deliver 
thee,  O  Israel  "i  how  shall  I  make  thee  as  Admah  t 
how  shall  I  set  thee  as  Zeboim?  mine  heart  is  turned 
within  me,  my  repentings  are  kindled  together."  In 
a  like  way  our  Lord  was  the  friend  of  publicans  and 
sinners  ;  not  that  he  approved  of  their  conduct,  —  he 


10  THE  ROYAL  LAW  OF  LOVE.  ' 

reprobated  it  more  than  the  Pharisee  did,  who  turned 
away  from  them  in  scorn,  —  but  he  wept  over  the  com- 
ing doom  on  Jerusalem  ;  and  his  very  purpose  in 
coming  to  this  world  was  to  seek  and  save  that  which 
is  lost.  In  this,  as  in  every  other  particular,  we  are 
to  copy  him  who  has  set  us  an  example  that  we  should 
follow  his  steps.  It  is  not  expected  of  us  that  we 
should  have  pleasure  in  the  society  of  the  licentious, 
the  selfish,  the  malignant :  but  we  are  to  feel  for  them  ; 
as  human  beings  we  are  to  pity  them,  and  seek  to 
allure  them  to  God  and  to  good. 

II.  Law. 

Law  was  in  the  nature  of  God  from  all  eternity, 
and  is  the  instrument  of  his  government :  it  was 
inscribed  on  the  nature  of  man  when  he  was  created  ; 
it  was  graven  by  God's  own  finger  on  the  granite 
blocks  of  Sinai ;  it  was  spoken  in  gentle  and  attrac- 
tive tones  by  our  Lord,  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
and  it  is  written  by  God's  own  Spirit  as  a  new  com- 
mandment on  the  hearts  of  God's  people.  It  goes 
with  man  wherever  he  goes,  to  tell  him,  if  he  is 
prepared  to  listen  to  it,  what  is  right  and  what  is 
wrong,  and  in  the  end  to  punish  him  if  he  refuses  to 
obey.  It  is  so  essential  a  part  of  his  nature,  that  it 
will  follow  him  into  the  regions  below,  to  torment  him 
more  than  the  worm  that  never  dies,  than  the  fire  that 
is  not  quenched. 

That  law  has  been  broken,  but  is  still  binding. 
When  Moses  came  down  from  the  Mount  with  the 
two  tables,  he  threw  them  from  him,  and  broke  them, 


TIIK  R( )  y.  1 L   LA  II '  OF  L O  VE.  I  I 

when  lie  witnessed  the  wickedness  of  ihc  children  of 
Israel.  lUit  he  had  just  to  rcasccnd  to  the  Mount 
and  have  them  written  again  by  God's  own  finger. 
Which  thing  may  be  unto  us  for  an  allegory.  Man 
has  broken  God's  law  ;  but  that  law  retains  all  its 
claims,  and  ever  renews  them.  The  law  is  embodied 
in  the  gospel.  All  this  was  instructively  represented 
in  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  laid  up  in  the  holiest  of 
all,  and  typifying  the  new  covenant.  On  the  lid  of  it 
were  the  cherubim,  overshadowing  the  blood-sprinkled 
mercy-seat ;  and  the  promise  was  given  :  '*  There  will 
I  meet  with  thee,  and  commune  with  thee  on  the  mer- 
cy-seat from  between  the  cherubim."  But  within  the 
ark  were  the  two  tables  of  stone.  Christ  came  not 
to  destroy  the  law,  but  to  fulfil.  The  gospel,  wherever 
it  goes,  carries  within  it  the  law  fulfilled  by  Christ, 
the  law  still  binding  on  his  followers.  There  is  a 
sense  in  which  believers  are  free  from  the  law  ;  they 
are  free  from  its  curse  :  but  in  another  sense  they 
are  still  under  it ;  they  are  not  free  from  the  obligation 
to  obey  it.  When  sinners  come  to  Christ  he  welcomes 
them  ;  he  says,  Your  sins  be  forgiven  you  ;  but 
he  does  not  give  them  liberty  to  go  back  to  their 
sins,  but,  "go  and  sin  no  more."  Just  as  the  father, 
after  rejoicing  over  the  return  of  his  prodigal  son, 
took  him  into  his  house  to  keep  him  in  ^fety,  so  our 
Heavenly  Father  takes  us  into  his  family  to  train  us 
to  obedience.  When  the  sinner  comes  to  Christ,  Christ 
pays  his  debts,  but  it  is  only  to  send  him  to  pay  his 
dues,  not  in  the  oldness  of  the  letter,  but  the  newness 
of  the  spirit.     In  heaven  itself,  the  soul,  brought  into 


12  THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE. 

unison  with  the  law  of  love,  will  be  fulfilling  it  to 
perfection  :  and  the  music  of  heaven  will  consist  es- 
sentially in  attuned  hearts,  each  breathing  its  own 
melody,  and  all  in  harmony ;  hearts  in  accord  with 
the  heart  of  God  and  in  accord  with  one  another,  and 
fulfilling  the  pleasure  of  God  for  ever  and  ever. 

The  law  has  two  marked  features. 

//  is  Imperative.  It  speaks  as  one  having  authority : 
it  speaks  in  the  name  of  God.  It  says,  "  Thou  shalt 
do  this,  thou  shalt  not  do  that."  "  The  Categorical 
Imperative  "  was  the  designation  given  it  by  the  great 
German  metaphysician.  Its  function  is  not  to  tell 
us  what  is,  but  what  ought  to  be.  All  its  affirmations 
are  commands  ;  all  its  negations  are  prohibitions.  It 
has  rewards  rich  and  numerous  for  those  who  obey  it. 
It  has  penalties,  certain  and  terrible,  for  those  who 
transgress  it.  God  has  a  vicegerent  to  sustain  it,  in 
the  conscience,  "which  shows  the  work  of  the  law 
written  in  their  hearts,  their  conscience  also  bearing 
witness,  and  their  thoughts  the  mean  while  accusing, 
or  else  excusing  one  another."  There  is  a  witness 
within,  which  constrains  us  to  acknowledge  its  right 
to  obedience. 

It  is  Determinative.  It  is  categorical ;  it  has  its 
definite  requirements  which  it  cannot  forego,  and  will 
not  lower.  "  Guilty  or  not  guilty,"  are  the  alterna- 
tives it  proposes.  It  admits  of  no  middle  course  or 
compromise  ;  it  accepts  of  no  excuse ;  it  will  not 
listen  to  any  plea  or  extenuation. 

In  this  respect,  the  order,  the  regularities,  of  the 
physical  world  resemble  it.     Hence  for  the  last  two 


THE  RO^AL   LAW  OF  LOVE.  13 

hundred  years  they  have  been  called  laws,  laws  of 
nature,  as  supposed  to  have  been  enacted  by  a  law- 
giver. It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  they  are  called 
"ordinances"  in  Scripture  (Ps.  cxix.  91).  "  They  con- 
tinue this  day  accordin^^  to  thine  ordinances,  for  all  are 
thy  servants."  We  hear  much  in  these  limes  of  the 
laws  of  nature,  of  their  being  so  fixed  and  immutable. 
Those  who  speak  in  this  way  are  apt  to  forget  that 
there  is  another  law  which  is  still  more  unchangeable, 
and  shall  abide  when  the  heavens  are  rolled  up  like  a 
scroll.  It  is  by  these  two  kinds  of  law,  the  one 
Moral,  the  *'  greater  light,"  and  the  other  Natural, 
"  the  lesser  light,"  that  God  rules  our  world,  —  by  the 
one  moral  agents,  by  the  other  physical  agents, — 
making  them  all  combine  and  conspire  towards  one 
good  and  grand  end. 

In  one  respect  the  two  are  alike  :  both  are  inflexible. 
But  they  differ.  The  laws  of  nature  admit  of  no  ex- 
ceptions. They  cannot  be  changed  except  by  Him 
who  appointed  them.  The  will  of  man  cannot  arrest 
them.  Gravitation  is  as  ready  to  bring  down  an  un- 
supported stone  to  crush  us,  as  it  is  to  keep  the  earth 
moving  on  beneficently  in  its  sphere.  The  winds 
which  drive  on  the  vessel  one  day,  may  sink  it  in  the 
deep  the  next.  The  chemical  affinities  which  prepare 
food  to  nourish  us  are  ready  to  mix  poison  to  kill  us. 
On  the  other  hand,  moral  laws  may  be  broken.  We 
are  now  in  the  region  of  the  will.  In  order  to  be  a 
moral  agent  man  must  be  a  free  agent.  Love  that  is 
constrained  is  not  love.  Morality  compelled  is  not 
true  morality.     So  moral  law   may  be   broken,  while 


14  THE   ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE. 

physical  law  cannot.  But  moral  law,  properly  under- 
stood, is  quite  as  inflexible,  as  unrelenting,  as  natural 
law.  If  we  neglect  the  laws  of  health,  the  conse- 
quences may  be  disease  or  death.  But  if  we  violate 
the  laws  of  morality,  the  consequences  may  be,  must 
be,  much  more  fatal  in  a  condemning  conscience,  or 
in  judgments  to  descend  in  this  life  or  the  life  to 
come.  Natural  law,  which  moves  on  so  regularly,  so 
irresistibly,  so  beneficently,  is  the  fittest  outward  type 
and  emblem  of  that  moral  law  which  rules  the  heaven 
and  controls  the  earth. 

III.  Relation  of  Love  and  Law  in  God. 

The  planet  is  held  in  its  sphere  by  two  influences  ; 
one  impelling,  the  other  staying  it.  So  it  is  with 
moral  beings  :  they  are  drawn  by  love,  but  it  is  love 
regulated  by  law.  It  is  well  that  the  earth  should 
have  an  attraction  towards  the  sun,  without  which  it 
would  wander  into  an  outer  region  of  coldness,  dark- 
ness, and  destruction  ;  but  were  there  no  restraining 
power  it  would  be  drawn  into  the  sun's  atmosphere, 
and  be  consumed,  by  his  heat.  In  like  manner,  moral 
excellence  implies  of  necessity  these  two  things,  love 
and  law  ;  the  one  to  attract,  the  other  to  guide  in  the 
right  path. 

It  is  not  easy  to  embody  in  human  conceptions,  and 
to  express  in  human  language,  the  relation  of  law  and 
love.  We  know  that  the  two  are  closely  connected. 
Their  connection  is  in  God,  the  source  of  both.  Even 
as  God  is  the  origin  of  all  other  things,  of  nature,  of 
force,  of  matter,  of  mind,  so  is  he  also  the  origin  of 


THE   ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE.  I  5 

love  and  law.  All  these  streams,  if  we  follow  them 
up  sufficiently  far,  carry  us  to  the  fountain.  Love  is 
the  refreshing  water  ;  the  law  is  the  channel  for  it  to 
flow  in ;  and  the  spring  is  in  the  bosom  of  God.  "  Let 
us  love  one  another,  for  love  is  of  God."  Charity  is 
the  highest  of  all  the  graces :  "  There  abideth  these 
three,  faith,  hope,  and  charity  ;  but  the  greatest  of 
these  is  charity."  l^ut  then  charity  never  tries  to  set 
itself  above  law  ;  if  it  did  so,  it  might  work  only  mis- 
chief. "  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law."  Love  takes 
the  form  of  a  commandment.  When  asked  by  the 
lawyer,  "  Which  is  the  great  commandment  in  the 
law  .^  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and 
with  all  thy  mind  ;  this  is  the  first  and  great  com- 
mandment, and  the  second  is  like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  On  these  two  com- 
mandments hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets."  Thus 
indissolubly  are  charity  and  commandment  joined  in 
Scripture.  It  is  love  that  makes  us  like  unto  God, 
who  is  love  ;  but  the  love  of  God  is  a  love  regulated 
by  eternal  justice. 

We  cannot  by  any  process  of  analysis  get  rid  of 
either  of  these  elements.  Defective  systems  of  ethics 
arise  from  omitting  one  or  other,  or  not  giving  each 
its  due  place.  A  stoic,  a  pharisaic  morality  leaves 
out  love,  and  presents  only  the  expressionless  form 
of  law.  Utilitarianism  leaves  out  eternal  and  un- 
changeable obligation,  and  offers  a  flexible  morality, 
suiting  itself  to  supposed  results.  IMy  illustrious 
predecessor,  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  greatest  thinker 


l6  THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE. 

that  this  country  has  produced,  in  whose  dazzling 
beams  the  others  of  us  appear  merely  as  the  smaller 
planets  passing  over  the  disc  of  the  sun,  has  made  a 
bold  attempt  to  resolve  all  virtue  into  love.  But  then 
he  has  to  make  it  love  to  being  as  being.  The  very 
statement  shows  that  there  is  another  element  as  well 
as  love.  There  is  love  to  bemg  as  being,  showing  that 
being  has  claims,  and  that  there  must  be  some  means 
of  determining  the  claims  of  being  as  -being.  We 
ought  to  love  God  and  our  neighbor.  Yes,  but 
whence  this  word  "  ought "  so  full  of  meaning  }  Why 
should  I  love  any  one  but  myself  1  Our  deepest  nat- 
ure gives  the  response,  and  will  continue  to  do  so, 
whether  we  attend  to  it  or  no.  All  this  implies  that 
alongside  of  love  there  is  law,  commanding  and  de- 
manding. Far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  the  two  are  seen 
to  run  parallel.  I  do  not  say  that  they  never  meet,  for 
they  meet  in  the  nature  of  God  and  of  all  holy  beings. 
And,  though  often  dissevered  here,  they  will  meet  at 
last  in  the  character  of  saints  in  heaven,  with  whom 
love  will  be  law,  and  law  will  be  love. 

"  What  therefore  God  hath  joined  together,  let  not 
man  put  asunder."  There  is  no  propriety  in  drawing 
invidious  comparisons  as  to  the  relative  importance 
of  the  two.  It  might  be  argued  that  law  is  the  higher  ; 
for  it  commands  love,  says  when  it  is  to  flow,  and 
where  it  is  to  stay.  But  then  love  is  the  very  end  for 
which  the  law  exists  :  the  end  of  the  commandment 
is  charity.  Law  without  love  is  a  mere  form  without 
life  :  love  without  law  is  a  life  without  a  body  in 
which  to  reside.     Law  without  love  is  a  channel  with- 


THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE.  I  7 

out  a  stream  ;  love  without  law  may  be  a  stream, 
bursting  forth  and  spreading  destruction.  Let  the 
two  revolve  round  each  other  like  binary  stars,  each 
with  its  own  color,  the  one  the  comj)lement  of  the 
other.  Let  Righteousness  stand  for  ever  on  the  pedes- 
tal on  which  he  has  been  set  uj),  with  his  high  look 
and  unbending  mien,  the  master  and  the  guardian  ; 
and  ever  beside  him,  beneath  him,  and  leaning  upon 
him,  yet  beautiful  and  graceful  as  he,  let  there  be  seen 
Love,  with  smiles  upon  her  face  and  gifts  in  her 
hands. 

I  believe  they  were  never  separated  till  sin  appeared. 
Alas,  that  seducer  and  corrupter  has  severed  them  ! 
There  has  arisen  a  stern  doctrine,  which  has  no  ten- 
derness ;  whose  gaze  is  as  unmoved  and  unmovable  as 
that  of  the  Egyptian  sphinx,  looking  out  from  its  desert 
of  sand.  If  there  be  theologians  still  dwelling  in  a  cold 
palace  of  ice,  I  recommend  them  to  let  the  beams  of 
the  sun  of  righteousness  shine  upon  it  and  thaw  it.  I 
look  upon  the  Shorter  Catechism  as  the  best  compend 
of  Scripture  truth  which  we  have  in  any  language;  but 
I  have  sometimes  felt  that  there  is  less  of  love  in  it 
than  there  is  in  the  Scriptures,  and  that  it  serves  a 
good  end  when  the  teacher  puts  a  smile  upon  its  coun- 
tenance to  attract  the  youth  who  has  to  learn  it.  It 
was  rather  an  empty  ark  which  they  had  to  look  into 
in  Solomon's  time,  when  they  found  nothing  there  but 
the  tables  of  stone,  and  not  their  accompaniments,  — 
Aaron's  rod  that  budded,  signifying  life  from  the  dead  ; 
nor  the  pot  of  manna,  typifying  food  for  the  weak. 
But  the  defect  I  am  now  speaking  of  belongs  rather 


1 8  THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE. 

to  the  seventeenth  than  the  nineteenth  century.  We 
are  now  more  in  danger  of  a  sentimental  and  a  sim- 
pering faith,  acting  the  part  of  a  DeHlah,  professing 
love  to  the  man  who  boasts  that  he  is  strong,  only  in 
the  end  to  show  how  weak  he  is,  and  to  consign  him 
to  blindness  and  darkness.  Let  us  have  charity,  they 
say:  but  charity  without  principle  to  guide  it  may 
distribute  its  gifts  very  indiscriminately  and  injuri- 
ously. Let  us  have  fire,  they  insist :  but  we  cannot 
have  fire  without  fuel  to  feed  it,  and  fire  cannot  be 
allowed  to  burn  and  consume  in  every  place,  and  as  it 
pleases.  While  the  sun  has  a  photosphere  to  radiate 
its  beneficent  influence,  it  has  also  a  solid  body  to 
keep  up  the  supply  of  heat  and  light.  There  should 
be  a  vessel  to  contain  the  pleasant  incense  that  we 
offer,  otherwise  it  will  soon  dissipate  into  inanity. 

By  all  means  let  us  make  our  religion  attractive,  as 
attractive  as  the  character  of  Jesus.  But  Jesus  came 
to  fulfil  the  law  and  the  prophets  ;  and,  while  he  al- 
lowed the  woman  that  was  a  sinner  to  bathe  his  feet 
with  her  tears,  he  drove  out  those  who  polluted  his 
temple,  made  those  fall  back  who  assailed  him.  And 
we  read  of  what  I  suppose  is  the  most  terrible  thing 
in  the  universe,  "  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb."  It  is 
doubtless  to  this  that  reference  is  made  when  it  is  said 
that  "  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire."  If  we  would 
make  love  fulfil  its  divine  mission,  we  must  associate 
with  it  the  eternal  truth  with  which  it  is  combined  in 
the  Word.  Let  us  never  allow  ourselves  to  suppose 
that  we  can  improve  the  Scriptures  by  shearing  off 
some  pointed  truths  supposed  to  be  offensive.     Let 


THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOl'E.  19 

the  sun  shine  there  in  the  heavens  in  all  its  brii^ht- 
ness,  even  thouj^di  it  should  dazzle  our  eyes  :  we  need 
all  its  light  to  show  us  the  way  in  whieh  we  should 
walk  ;  the  plants  need  all  its  heat  to  mature  and  to 
ripen  them.  There  are  statements  in  that  Word  of 
which  I  wished,  as  I  remember,  in  the  petulance  of 
youth,  that  they  had  not  been  there.  But  I  have  been 
made  by  experience,  often  bitter,  to  see  the  truth  and 
awful  importance  of  them.  Whether  we  see  it  now 
or  no,  all  believers  will  see  in  the  end  that  "  all  Scrip- 
ture is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable 
for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruc- 
tion in  righteousness,  that  the  man  of  God  may  be 
perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works." 

There  is  a  theology  known  as  the  Princeton  theol- 
ogy, defended  by  good  and  great  men,  some  of  them 
now  seeing  the  truth  still  more  clearly  in  the  mansions 
above,  but  some  of  them  still  spared  to  us.  It  is  in 
fact  simply  the  Reformation  theology.  It  is  the  the- 
ology of  Paul  in  all  his  epistles.  If  any  of  us  have  in 
any  respect  fallen  beneath  the  spirit  of  Jesus  and  of 
the  Word,  let  us  acknowledge  our  fault  and  amend  ; 
but  we  dare  not  meanwhile  abandon  the  truth  which 
has  been  held  so  firmly  and  defended  so  ably  among  us. 
If  any  of  us  have  been  supercilious,  saying,  "  Stand  by, 
for  I  am  holier  than  thou,"  let  us  hasten  to  bow  our- 
selves at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and  learn  of  him  to  be 
meek  and  lowly.  If  any  have  allowed  their  ortho- 
doxy, like  the  frost,  to  cover  over  and  cool  their  hu- 
manity, let  them  place  their  hearts  under  the  beams 
of  him  who  "  makelh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and 


20  THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE. 

the  good,  and  scndcth  his  rain  on  the  just  and  the  un- 
just," and  their  systems  will  be  better.  But,  whatever 
improvement  we  may  make  in  cultivating  and  cherish- 
ing the  spirit  of  charity,  there  is  one  thing  we  can 
never  do,  and  that  is,  to  lower  the  standard  of  doctrine 
or  of  duty.  Amidst  the  shiftings  of  human  fancy  and 
speculation  which  spring  up  and  wither  like  the  grass, 
the  Princeton  theology,  like  the  Word  of  God  on  which 
it  is  founded  as  on  a  rock,  "  endureth  for  ever." 

It  is  true  that  there  have  been  men  who  have 
preached  or  practised  a  pharisaic  morality  ;  that  is,  a 
law  without  love.  A  law  has  been  set  forth  and  en- 
forced which  is  not  the  law  of  love,  and  has  driven 
men  away  from  God,  who  is  love,  and  from  the  gospel, 
which  is  essentially  a  message  of  reconciliation  from 
God  to  sinful  man.  The  terrors  of  the  law  have  been 
used,  not  as  by  Paul  to  persuade  men,  but  to  tempt 
or  drive  them  to  rebellion  or  resistance.  In  ages  past 
law  has  been  used  lawlessly  by  monarchs  and  by  mas- 
ters. But  in  the  present  day  the  tendency  seems  all 
the  other  way.  If  there  were  tyrannies  in  old-world 
monarchies  which  we  in  these  times  arc  not  slow  to 
condemn,  there  is  licentiousness  in  new-world  republics 
which  it  might  be  as  useful  and  important  for  us  to 
expose  and  condemn.  People  were  rather  astonished 
when  not  long  ago  the  preacher  of  a  great  university 
took  as  his  text  on  a  public  occasion,  "  Thou  shalt  not 
steal."  Ijut  he  was  speaking  the  truth  for  the  time 
now  present,  which  needs  the  commandments  to  be 
proclaimed  as  awfully  as  they  were  at  Sinai,  to  arrest 
the  corruptions   of  individuals  and  of  rings.      Some 


THE   ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE.  2  1 

think  that  preachers  \\\  these  times  mi^^ht  prorita])Iy 
take  as  their  text,  *'  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother." 
If  fathers  erred  two  centuries  ago  in  being  somewhat 
too  rigid  with  their  chiklren,  it  is  possible  that  in  these 
times  they  may  not  be  sufficiently  faithful  in  restrain- 
ing self-indulgence,  and  in  training  to  habits  of  self- 
sacrifice.  If  some  preachers,  in  ages  gone  by,  preached 
hell  and  damnation  instead  of  Christ,  it  is  possible 
that  some  in  these  times  are  so  relaxed  by  a  weak 
charity  that  they  have  not  the  courage  or  faithfulness 
to  bid  men  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come.  If  there 
have  been  preachers  in  certain  ages  who  insisted  on 
nothing  but  stern  duty,  there  are  not  a  few  in  our 
day  who  recommend  love  without  the  due  restraints 
of  law,  who  are  tampering  wath  the  marriage  relation, 
lowering  the  sacredness  of  wedlock,  and  allowing  such 
liberty  of  divorce  as  is  fitted  to  break  up  the  family, 
—  which,  I  may  remark,  is  the  only  means  of  secur- 
ing proper  moral  culture,  and  training  the  rising  gen- 
eration to  virtue.  More  evil  may  arise  from  lawless 
love,  which  is  fascinating,  than  from  hatred,  which  is 
repulsive.  So  we  have  no  intention  here  in  Prince- 
ton of  changing  the  truths  of  God's  Word,  on  the 
miserable  pretence  of  making  them  softer  and  more 
lovable  than  God  has  made  them  in  his  Word. 

There  is  a  teaching  in  our  day  antagonistic  to  the 
Princeton  theology.  It  can  scarcely  be  called  a  theol- 
ogy. It  does  not  take,  it  cannot  be  made  to  take,  any 
scientific  form.  It  would  let  down  doctrine  and  exalt 
charity,  and  would  thereby  make  religion  easier  and 
more  attractive,  —  as   they  suppose.      It   is   **  Broad 


22  THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE. 

Church  "  in  England,  dehvering  itself  from  all  creed. 
It  is  the  "  Religion  of  Humanity,"  in  this  country, 
instead  of  the  "  Religion  of  Divinity  for  Humanity." 
It  would  free  humanity  from  certain  restraints  and 
sacrifices  with  the  view  of  exalting  it.  It  is  not  just 
the  same,  but  it  is  analogous  to  the  attempt  in  the  last 
century  to  do  away  with  doctrine  on  the  pretence  of 
exalting  morality,  and  which  led  to  dry  High  Church- 
ism  in  England,  to  Moderatism  in  Scotland  and  Ulster, 
to  Rationalism  on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  and  to 
Unitarianism  in  this  country  ;  and  ended  in  all  in  the 
decay  of  religion  and  the  lowering  of  morality.  The 
new  gospel  which  has  appeared  among  us  is  evidently 
running  a  like  career.  Doctrine  is  discarded  first ; 
duty  goes  next,  in  the  next  man  or  the  next  age. 

It  is  a  profound  saying  of  one  of  the  brothers  Hare  : 
"To  form  a  correct  judgment  concerning  the  tendency 
of  any  doctrine,  we  should  rather  look  at  the  forms  it 
bears  in  the  disciples  than  in  the  teacher.  For  he 
only  made  it :  they  ai'e  made  by  it!'  We  may  now 
see  the  kind  of  characters  that  are  made  in  this  school 
of  love  and  humanity.  There  was  first  a  turning 
away  from  the  old  doctrine,  and  this  has  been  followed 
by  a  turning  away  from  the  old  morality.  I  beg  that 
it  may  be  understood  that  I  have  no  reference  to  any 
one  individual ;  and  that  I  enter  on  no  doubtful  or 
disputed  points.  I  proceed,  on  what  is  visible  to  all, 
on  what,  indeed,  has  been  forced  offensively  on  the 
attention  of  all.  The  feeling  of  many  of  us  is,  "  O 
my  soul,  come  not'  thou  into  their  secret  ;  into  their 
assembly,  mine  honor,  be  not  thou  united."     Notwith- 


THE  ROYAL  LAW  OF  LOVE.  23 

Standing  all  the  efforts  to  suppress  the  "  secret,"  aw- 
ful disclosures  have  been  made.  We  see  how  the 
milk  of  human  kindness,  when  not  restrained  by  law, 
is  apt  to  be  soured  into  hatred,  how  humanity  sinks 
into  selfishness.  We  see  how  perilous  it  is  to  begin 
to  tamper  with  the  most  sacred  of  all  earthly  rela- 
tions. It  looks  as  if  the  generation  now  springing 
up  needed  to  know  what  sort  of  "  assembly  "  or  so- 
ciety has  been  formed  among  us,  and  what  the  prac- 
tical consequences  of  the  sentiment  passing  current 
in  the  circle.  The  young  needed  to  know  what  kind 
of  men  are  seeking  to  guide  opinion  in  the  public 
press,  even  the  so-called  religious  press ;  men  who 
keep  no  sabbath,  but  work  on  it  as  on  other  days  ; 
who  go  to  no  place  of  worship,  who  are  supposed  to 
be  capable  of  teaching  others  while  they  have  aban- 
doned the  religion  which  is  the  basis  of  ethics,  and 
ridicule  the  holy  doctrine  which  they  know  condemns 
them.  The  watchmen  who  are  set  on  thy  walls,  O 
Jerusalem,  need  to  proclaim,  as  loud  as  when  seven 
thunders  utter  their  voices,  that  love  is  to  be  guided 
by  law,  that  love  cannot  excuse  lying,  whether  to 
shelter  the  persons  themselves  or  others  ;  that  in 
contradictory  statements  there  must  be  lying,  and 
that  in  contradictory  oaths  there  must  be  perjury  of 
the  deepest  dye,  offensive  in  the  highest  degree  to 
God,  and  to  be  denounced  with  terrible  reprobation 
by  man. 

Our  general  subject  leads  me  to  remark  that  in 
Princeton  College  we  seek  to  combine  affection  with 
discipline.     In  not  a  few  of  our  larger  colleges,  the 


24  THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE, 

authorities  have  virtually  abandoned  all  attempts  to 
exercise  any  oversight  except  in  the  way  of  securing 
order  in  the  recitation  rooms,  and  students  may  and 
often  do  fall  into  vicious  habits  without  their  instruc- 
tors having  any  knowledge  of  it,  or  the  parents  having 
any  hint  of  it,  till  it  is  too  late.  But  surely  it  is  a 
very  serious  matter  to  separate  hundreds  of  young 
men  from  the  restraints  of  home,  and  then  take  no 
charge  of  them  religiously  and  morally.  It  is  a  very 
difficult  task,  I  acknowledge,  to  combine  these  two 
thinc^s,  love  and  faithfulness.  I  do  not  venture  to 
affirm  that  we  have  perfectly  succeeded  :  that,  on  the 
one  hand,  we  have  always  shown  as  much  sympathy 
and  tenderness  as  we  should ;  or  that,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  have  been  firm  enough  in  repressing  evil. 
But  I  can  say  for  the  authorities  of  this  college  that 
we  have  been  anxious  to  do  what  is  right.  So  far 
from  discouraging  innocent  amusement  and  manly 
sports,  we  provide  them,  and  keep  them  under  proper 
regulations  as  to  hours.  We  frown  on  studious  in- 
subordination and  vice,  on  every  form  of  equivocation 
or  lying,  and  on  practices  which  degrade  those  who 
engage  in  them.  It  will  be  admitted  by  all  who  know 
our  state  that  we  have  now  got  rid  of  nearly  all  the 
old  practices  that  have  disgraced  American  colleges, 
and  that  no  professor  remembers  a  year  in  which  we 
have  had  so  much  quietness  and  propriety  of  conduct, 
and  so  much  mutual  confidence  on  the  part  of  the 
faculty  and  students. 

In  teaching  other  high  branches  we  aim  to  impart 
religious  instruction.     I  feel  this  to  be  a  difficult  work 


THE  ROYAL    LAW  OF  LOVE.  25 

in  a  large  college  with  young  men  of  such  varied  char- 
acter, some  of  them  with  as  yet  no  taste  for  spiritual 
things.  But  we  hold  that  the  mind  is  not  furnished 
as  it  ought,  if,  on  opening  to  our  students  the  riches 
of  literature,  science,  and  philosophy,  we  do  not  make 
them  acquainted  with  the  character  and  will  of  God. 
But  this  can  be  done  only  by  the  Scriptures :  I  know 
of  no  other  religious  instruction  which  can  be  of  any 
value  practically.  So  I  labor  to  take  the  students 
through  the  Bible  in  a  general  way  in  our  collegiate 
course  of  four  years.  This  last  year  I  have  been  ex- 
pounding the  doctrines  of  the  Word,  with  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans  as  our  text-book.  Here  we  have  a 
full  and  perfect  combination  of  doctrine  and  precept, 
of  law  and  love.  Those  versed  in  this  portion  of 
Scripture  should  be  in  a  position  to  form  a  correct 
judgment  on  all  subjects  religious  and  moral,  and  are 
in  possession  of  a  body  of  principles  fitted  to  stimu- 
late them  to  what  is  good,  and  to  hold  them  back  from 
what  is  evil.  We  believe  that  by  imparting  such  in- 
struction, not  only  do  we  best  serve  the  cause  of  our 
great  Master,  but  are  taking  the  most  effective  means 
to  train  for  work  and  usefulness  the  young  committed 
to  6ur  care  by  anxious  parents  and  guardians. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Graduating-  Class,  —  I  have  been 
associated  with  most  of  you  very  closely  for  the  last 
four  years.  During  this  time,  besides  praying  with 
you  from  day  to  day  in  the  chapel,  and  lecturing  to 
you  and  occasionally  preaching  to  you  on  the  Sab- 
bath, I  have  met  with  you  as  a  class  once  a  week  fur 


26  THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE. 

Bible  instruction.  During  one  year  I  had  a  meeting 
with  you  once  a  week  for  the  study  of  the  human 
mind,  and  with  a  portion  of  you  during  another  for 
the  study  of  the  history  of  philosophy.  These  meet- 
ings were  pleasant  at  the  time,  and  the  remembrance 
of  them  will  be  precious.  I  realize  it  as  a  very  serious 
thought  that  I  have  now  to  part  witli  you.  I  have 
this  day  to  inquire  whether  I  have  done  my  duty  as  I 
ought  towards  you  ;  whether  I  have  been  sufficiently 
faithful  on  the  one  hand  and  sufficiently  tender  on  the 
other.  I  feel  more  deeply  than  I  can  express  that  I 
have  lost  opportunities  of  doing  good  which  I  should 
have  embraced,  and  that  I  have  not  been  so  sympa- 
thetic as  I  ought  in  my  expositions  and  in  my  coun- 
sels. But  I  bless  God  because  he  has  given  me  a 
glorious  opportunity  of  bringing  before  you  great 
truths  both  in  religion  and  philosophy;  and  my 
prayer  to  God  and  to  you  is  that  you  now  take  them 
with  you  and  use  and  apply  them  in  your  beliefs  and 
your  actings  in  the  varied  scenes  of  life,  overlooking 
any  imperfections  that  may  have  mingled  with  my 
exposition  of  them. 

I  feel  as  I  had  left  much  unsaid  which  I  should 
have  said  ;  but  the  omission  cannot  be  rectified  by 
trying  to  say  i<  now.  All  I  can  now  do  is  to  pray 
that  "  what  is  sown  in  weakness  may  be  raised  in 
j^uwcr."  Perhaps  some  of  the  things  I  have  said  may 
come  up  before  you  once  and  again  to  animate  and 
establish  you  ;  some  of  the  sparks  may  kindle  a  fire  ; 
some  of  the  seeds  scattered  may  strike  root.  You 
have  certainly  received  valuable  instruction  from  the 


THE  ROYAL  LAW  OF  LOVE,  27 

able,  the  faithful  and  laborious  teachers  under  whom 
you  have  sat  in  this  "college  ;  and  we  cherish  the  hope 
that  the  knowledge  gained,  the  habits  formed,  the 
principles  instilled,  the  virtues  acquired,  may  be  so 
wrought  into  your  nature  and  incorporated  into  your 
being  that  they  shall  come  out  in  your  general  aims 
and  purposes,  in  your  character  and  professional 
work, 

I  would  send  you  forth  from  these  walls  with  these 
two  words  "love"  and  "law"  written  as  a  motto 
on  your  hearts.  The  one  will  be  a  well  of  living 
waters  within  you,  ever  springing  up  and  refreshing 
you,  and  ready  to  flow  out.  Most  of  you  have  now  to 
set  out  on  a  hard  struggle,  in  which  you  have  to  pro- 
vide for  your  temporal  wants.  But  I  will  be  greatly 
disappointed  if  I  hear  of  you  living  for  mere  personal 
and  selfish  ends.  I  knew  a  young  man  who  devoted 
his  first  hard-won  earnings  to  purchase  a  gift  for  his 
mother:  he  had  his  mother's  prayers,  and  he  rose  to 
eminence.  I  knew  another  youth  who  consecrated 
his  first  money  to  a  missionary  cause.  He  lived  to  be 
one  of  the  great  missionaries  of  our  age.  There  is  a 
beautiful  incident  told  of  the  greatest  benefactor  which 
our  college  has  had  in  this  century.  The  young  man 
in  his  first  business  transaction  had  earned  some 
three  thousand  dollars.  What  is  he  to  do  with  it  '> 
to  spend  it  on  pleasures,  or  lay  it  up  as  a  fund  for  es- 
tablishing a  business  }  There  is  a  kind  family  that 
had  befriended  him,  but  is  now  in  circumstances  of 
privation.  He  offers  it  all  to  them.  It  required 
strong   faith    to  do  this.      But,  after  all,  he  made  a 


28  THE  ROYAL  LAW  OF  LOVE. 

wise  disposition  of  his  money.  He  lent  to  the  Lord, 
and  so  had  the  best  security.  The  boy  did  all  this 
from  principle,  and  with  no  idea  of  gaining  a  reputa- 
tion ;  but  he  established  a  character  of  far  more  value 
than  gold  even  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  gold.  To 
the  individual  who  thus  began  life  we  owe  these  mag- 
nificent buildings  and  these  professors'  chairs,  which 
will  be  the  means  of  shedding  light  for  untold  genera- 
tions. We  send  you  forth  from  these  walls,  where 
you  have  received  benefit  from  the  bounty  of  bene- 
factors, to  spread  light  and  love,  to  diffuse  around 
you  a  happy  and  a  hallowed  influence,  to  rejoice  with 
them  that  rejoice,  and  weep  with  them  that  weep. 
You  will  seek  in  your  spheres  to  advance  education,  to 
promote  refinement,  and  to  lead  in  all  movements 
which  further  literature  and  science.  Your  Alma 
Mater  expects  more  :  she  expects  you  to  promote  the 
highest  good,  which  is  spiritual  good.  A  number,  I 
know,  are  to  devote  themselves  to  what  they  believe 
to  be  the  highest  work  a  converted  man  can  engage 
in,  and  as  ministers  and  as  missionaries  are  to  scatter 
everywhere  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ. 

But  while  love  gives  the  steam  and  the  sails  in  the 
voyage,  you  will  always  take  with  you  moral  principle 
as  the  anchor  and  the  rudder.  You  will  shrink  from 
the  temptation  to  evil,  from  the  appearance  of  evil ; 
you  will  turn  back  when  you  come  near  the  border 
country  that  divides  vice  from  virtue.  "  By  reason  of 
use  you  will  have  your  senses  exercised  to  discern 
both  good  and  evil."  In  the  end,  duty  as  a  whole  will 
be  felt  to  be  pleasant  as  being  wrought  into  your  very 


THE  ROYAL  LAW  OF  LOVE.  29 

nature.  On  certain  occasions  a  strong  effort  will  re- 
quire to  be  made  ;  but  you  will  gird  yourselves  for 
the  battle,  wax  valiant  in  the  fight,  and  be  stronger 
for  the  victory.  "  Finally,  brethren,  whatsoever  things 
are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever 
things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  re- 
port, if  there  be  any  virtue  and  if  there  be  any  praise," 
you  will  think  on  these  things  and  do  them. 

This  time  of  graduation  constitutes  an  epoch  in 
your  history.  You  have  come  to  an  eminence  whence 
you  look  back  on  the  past  and  forward  to  the  future. 
In  surveying  the  past,  you  may  have  to  rejoice  over 
successes  ;  but  beware  of  trusting  in  them.  You 
gained  these  by  application,  and  you  will  need  the  like 
application  in  the  more  arduous  career  on  which  you 
have  now  to  enter.  Quite  as  possibly  you  may 
have  to  look  on  failures,  perhaps  great  failures  ;  time 
and  opportunities  of  improvement  lost.  Surely  your 
purpose  this  day  will  be  to  let  nothing  more  be  lost  : 
you  will  gather  lessons  from  your  very  disappoint- 
ments. You  have  also  to  look  forward  to  the  future 
which  you  see  stretching  out  before  you  ;  and  you 
make  this  a  profitable  Sabbath  in  forming  resolutions 
and  laying  out  plans.  See  that  they  include  plans  of 
doing  good,  and  that  they  all  be  undertaken  in  a  sense 
of  dependence  on  divine  wisdom. 

We  will  follow  you  in  this  career  on  which  you  are 
entering  with  some  anxiety,  but  with  greater  hope. 
We  pray  for  your  happiness  ;  but  we  pray  more  ear- 
nestly for  your  higher  good,  for  the  blessings  of  heaven 
to  water  the  fruits  of  earth.     While  we  remember  you, 


30  THE  ROYAL   LAW  OF  LOVE. 

we  expect  you  to  remember  us  ;  to  visit  us  from  time 
to  time  ;  to  pray  for  us,  and  help  us  to  promote  the 
great  ends  which  this  college  lives  to  accomplish. 
Thus,  while  scattered,  it  may  be,  widely,  you  shall  all 
be  one  in  the  family  relation  to  your  Alma  Mater. 

The  last  tie  that  binds  you  to  this  institution  is 
soon  to  be  loosed,  and  you  have  to  set  out  on  a  voyage 
on  which  there  may  be  more  or  fewer  tossings.  But 
two  things  abide  and  are  stronger  than  the  wind  or 
the  steam  that  drive  you  along,  and  firmer  than  the 
compass  or  the  anchor.  One  is  love  in  the  heart,  love 
more  enduring  than  life,  and  which  will  not  die  when 
the  body  dies  ;  the  other  is  law,  which  like  the  arms 
of  the  Omnipotent,  will  guard  you  for  ever. 

Met  as  we  are  this  day  for  the  last  time  as  a  band 
of  brothers  in  the  house  of  God,  let  us  arrange,  ere 
we  part,  another  meeting  place  to  which  we  may 
all  come.  Let  us  pledge  ourselves,  in  the  presence  of 
God  and  of  one  another,  that,  whatever  our  separations, 
that  wherever  else  we  meet,  or  whether  we  meet  again 
on  earth  or  no,  we  will  all  meet,  no  wanderer  lost,  in 
the  presence  of  God  in  heaven. 


WORKS    BY    DR.    McCOSH 


I. 

THE  METHOD  OF  THE  DIVINE  GOVERN- 
MENT, Physical  and  Moral.    Svo.    $2.50. 

"  It  is  refreshing  to  read  a  work  so  distinguishtd  for  originality  and  soundness  of 
tliinkinp;,  especially  as  coming  from  an  author  of  our  own  country."  —  Sir  It^'tUiam 
U  amilton. 

"  This  work  is  distinguished  from  other  similar  ones  by  its  being  based  upon  a 
thorough  study  of  physical  science,  and  an  accurate  knowledge  of  its  present  condition, 
and  by  its  entering  in  a  deeper  and  more  unfettered  manner  than  its  predecessors  upon 
the  discussion  of  the  appropriate  psychological,  ethical,  and  theological  questions. 
I'he  author  keeps  aloof  at  once  from  the  a  priori  idealism  and  dreaminess  of  German 
speculation  since  Schelling,  and  from  the  one-sidedness  and  narrowness  of  the  em- 
piricism and  positivism  which  have  so  prevailed  in  England.  In  the  provinces  of 
psycholoj;y  and  ethics  he  follows  conscientiously  the  facts  of  consciousness,  and  draws 
his  conclusions  of  them  commonly  with  penetration  and  logical  certainty."  —  Dt 
Ulrici,  in  Zeiischri/i  fur  Philosophie. 

II. 

TYPICAL  FORMS  AND  SPECIAL  ENDS  IN 
CREATION.  By  James  McCosh,  LL.D.,  and  Dr.  Dickie. 
8vo.    $2.50. 

"  It  IS  alike  comprehensive  in  its  range,  accurate  and  minute  in  its  details,  original 
in  its  structure,  and  devout  and  spirited  in  its  tone  and  tendency.  It  illustrates  and 
carries  out  the  great  principle  of  analogy  in  the  Divine  plans  and  works,  far  more 
minutely  and  satisfactorily  than  it  has  been  done  before ;  and  while  it  presents  the 
results  of  the  most  profound  scientific  research,  it  presents  them  in  their  higher  and 
spiritual  relations."  —  A  rgus. 

III. 

THE    INTUITIONS    OF    THE    MIND.     New  and 

Improved  edition.     Svo.     $3.00. 

'•  No  philosopher,  before  Dr.  McCosh,  has  clearly  brought  out  the  stages  by  w  hich 
\x\  original  and  individual  iatuition  passes  first  into  an  articulate  but  still  individual 
judgment,  and  then  into  a  universal  maxim  or  principle  ;  and  no  one  has  so  dearly  or 
completely  classified  and  enumerated  our  intuitive  convictions,  or  exhibited  in  det.iil 
their  relations  to  the  various  sciences  which  repose  on  them  as  their  foundations 
'I'he  amount  of  summarized  information  which  it  contains  is  very  great ;  and  it  is  tlie 
only  work  on  the  very  important  subject  with  which  it  deals.  Never  was  such  a  work 
so  much  needed  as  in  the  present  day.  It  is  the  only  scientific  work  adapted  to  coun- 
teract the  school  of  Mill,  Bain,  and  Herbert  Spencer,  which  is  so  steadily  prevailing 
among  the  students  of  the  present  generation."  —  Lomion  Quarterly  Rtvitw,  April 


WORKS    BY   DR.    McCOSH. 


IV. 

A    DEFENCE     OF    FUNDAMENTAL     TRUTH. 

Bein^^  an  Examination  of  Mr.  J.  S.  Mill's  Philosophy.     Svo. 
$3.00. 

"  The  spirit  of  these  discussions  is  admirable.     Fearless  and  courteous,  McCosI 
never  hesitates  to  bestow  praise  when  merited,  nor  to  attack  a  heresy  wherever  found 
—  Cong  RevUiv. 


ACADEMIC  TEACHING  IN  EUROPE:  Being 
Dr.  McCosh's  Address  at  his  Inauguration  as  President  of 
the  College  of  New  Jersey.     50  cents. 

VI. 
LAWS    OF    DISCURSIVE    THOUGHT:    Being  a 

Text-book  of  Formal  Logic.     i2mo.     $1.50. 

•The  position  from  which  Dr.  McCosh  was  called  to  America  was  the  professoi 
ship  of  Logic  and  Metaphysics  in  Queen's  College,  Belfast;  andthis  volume  of  two 
hundred  pages  is  the  fruit  of  his  study  and  experience  in  the  department  of  logic. 
It  is  therefore  a  condensed  but  exhaustive  exhibition  of  the  principles  of  the  science 
which  lie  has  more  thoroughly  mastered  than  perhaps  any  other  living  man.  He 
has  made  that  careful  inductive  investigation  of  the  operations  of  the  human  mind 
which  is  essential  to  the  constitution  of  the  science,  and  freely  avowing  his  regard  foi 
the  old  logic,  which  no  modem  improvements  have  overthrown,  he  is  fully  in  harmony 
with  whatever  the  greatest  thinkers  of  subsequent  ages,  even  of  our  own  times,  have 
contributed  to  the  subject.  The  book  is  admirably  adapted  to  the  use  of  classes 
in  schools  and  colleges,  where  it  will  readily  and  rapidly  find  its  way."  —  N.  Y. 
Observer. 

VII. 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  POSITIVISM.  A  Series  ol 
Lectures  to  the  Times  on  Natural  Theology  and  Apologetics. 
121110.     $1.75. 


ROBERT    CARTER    AND    BROTHERS, 
New  York, 


